The Guru

A fluffily lightweight culture-clash farce, this is a full-on showcase for East Is East star Mistry. He's Ramu Gupta, a snake-hipped Delhi dance instructor who travels to Manhattan aiming to emulate his idol John Travolta. Soon discovering that the reality is very different from Saturday Night Fever, he stumbles into a low budget porn video operation, where he's taken in hand by leading lady Sharonna (Graham). But when 'Rammy' is mistaken for a holy sage by gullible poor little rich girl Lexi (Tomei), he rides his luck to fame as the 'Guru of Sex'. Graham and Mistry look like they're having an absolute blast, and their energy is infectious, especially in a show-stopping fantasy number that segues from a full-fig Bollywood parody into 'You're the One that I Want'. But the uneven script and direction undermine the performers' boisterous energy. Whole lines, scenes and subplots don't work, with Tomei especially ill-served by a role that is a thinly veiled pop at fad-chasing celebs. Which is a bit rich, coming from a film so blatantly desperate to cash in on the current trend for all things Bollywood.